Highland Park gathering honors the memory of those killed on Oct. 7, 2023, and calls for the release of the 100 or so hostages. ‘We come together, and we unify and we feel very proud of those protecting us and proud of our resilience.’
Sivan Schondorf remembers what Israel was like before Hamas attacked the country on Oct. 7, 2023.
Schondorf had celebrated her daughter’s bat mitzvah there with family just a few months before. She returned to Israel in March, months after the attack, for a mission trip to help the communities devastated in the attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage.
The country wasn’t the same, and neither were its people, she said. “I can tell you from the before and after that the mood there is completely shifted, everybody is much more solemn.”
In the year since the attack the Jewish community across the world has grieved over those lost and prayed for the safe return of the remaining hostages. But within the grief there has also been unity, Schondorf added.
That unity was evident Sunday as hundreds came together in north suburban Highland Park, which has a large Jewish population, on the eve of the one-year mark of the Oct. 7 attack. The event honored the memory of those killed and called for the release of the 100 or so hostages still being held by Hamas.
“Even in times of intense mourning and sorrow we come together, and we unify and we feel very proud of those protecting us and proud of our resilience,” Schondorf said.
The memorial was organized by Shamash, a group of moms who live in the area and who organized vigils in the months following Hamas’ attack. Shamash is the Hebrew name for the candle used to light the other candles in a Hannukkah menorah.
